Memento Mori
by HomieGPoptart
Summary: Isabella Swan is doomed to forever remain on earth, unless she can find true love. A chance meeting with a stranger brings her ever closer to being freed from her terrible curse, but he has one decision to make. T for now..based off of a vauge memory.
1. Prologue

"You have to chose Edward. Are you going to keep me to yourself or are you going to share me with the world?" she asked. She knew that Edward was conflicted, but she hoped that he would choose the answer that she needed. She hoped that he would choose the answer that would save her.


	2. The Beggining

It was a cold and dreary afternoon and I was more depressed than she had ever been. It was my birthday today. One more birthday on a long line of birthdays. Today was especially depressing because it marked my 300th year on earth. I was tired of the never-ending cycle. Living forever is not all it's cracked up to be. Watching the people you love slowly fade and die had taken its toll on me. Now I was wishing it would be all over. Maybe this would be my year. I pondered, as I did every year, how I had ended up in this state.

_Flashback_

"_Father, NO! Don't hit her like that, I'm begging you!" I had cried when I first saw my mother's trembling form. He raised his bloodshot eyes to mine, he was drunk. He turned fully towards me. I had attracted his full wrath. Stalking toward me, he raised his fist._

"_You have no right to interfere in my business, bitch," he shouted. I winced, his voice was loud. He hit e hard upon the head with enough force to knock me down. I was the one cowering now. My mother watched, not moving an inch. He pushed his face into mine. His breath stank of alcohol._

"_You're going to pay for interrupting me," he hissed. I have never been beat as bad as the beating was then. Just as I was about to fling myself off the precipice of death, he decided to stop. I almost flung myself off anyways, had it not been for that voice. It called out from somewhere, telling me to wait. I had to oblige._

"_You don't have to go this way. I can give you a life away from your father, where you can be the happiest you've ever been," the voice said. I was intrigued. The voice went on,_

"_All you have to do is ask. Of course, there is a catch. Your appearance will be severely altered. You will also remain in life until you find true love. Only then will you be released from Eternity." I liked this offer. My mind was focused on the happiness part, so the Eternity bit skimmed right over my head and I didn't care about looks. I readily accepted this voices offer. I wanted a happier life. I wanted a try at love._

I was stupid back then. I should have been listening more carefully. The voice really did make me a new life, one of freedom and carelessness. I wasn't paying attention to the passage of time, or to my appearance. A couple years of wondering why I was being stared at, I finally caught a glimpse of myself. I was hideous! My features were all out of proportion and I had moles with thick, black hairs sticking out of them. I couldn't stand it. I went into hiding for a few years. Time was waste able when you were immortal. When I finally put together a fairly human existence, the times had changed considerably. I had to adjust. I made friends that thought I was new to the country, they helped a lot. I also managed to get a guy, surprisingly. He didn't stay long. His friends were always giving him shit about having me around. I moved away. The next couple years, the same routine. This routine lasted for a while, until finally, one day, I stumbled past a guy who could have been the one. He loved my personality. He even passed the first test of true love: taking me out to a public affair. He got to see the real me, before I changed. The beautiful me. But he failed the other test of true love. So I moved on to a new home, trying, always, to find the one.

**A/N: Ok. So, I was going to put one of these lovely things in the prologue, but I forgot. There was this story once (I think it may have been about the Knights of the Round Table) that has always been stuck in my head, so I figured; why not apply it to a modern Twilight? I don't know how long its going to be but I'm going to try to have longer chapters for y'all the rest of the updates. Please review because I would like to know what you think about how the story goes, especially as it progresses. This chapter was just the beginning. Kinda cheesy, I know, but i promise it gets better.**


	3. Gala

Today was a gala for all of the people that helped build the charity hospital that was erected recently. I had donated quite a sum of money and they had extended an invitation. I really didn't want to go, but it would be rather rude to decline their invite. So, I put on the appropriate attire and as much make-up and was possible without looking completely fake. As I was speeding off in my Lotus Elise and sped off towards the ritzy hotel that was holding the event. Of course, the valet's eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped when I pulled up in the lot. It was endearing, almost.

To say that the place was done up would have been the understatement of the century. The ballroom was so beautiful that I was stunned speechless. Out of all the galas that I have attended, this was perhaps the most well-done one. Quite a few people had already arrived and were engaging each other in polite conversation. When I arrived, the Chief of Staff, Carlisle Cullen, came over to greet me.

"Oh, Isabella, it's wonderful to see that you were able to make it."

"Really, Carlisle, do you think that I really would have left you here by yourself with all of your lusty coworkers? I'm not that cold hearted", I replied. Carlisle was my best friend, ever since we had met quite a few years back. I knew his secret and he got the gist of mine. He defended me against the less than savory people that had decided that they were to look down upon me because my looks were not up to par.

"Tonight you get to meet the rest of my family", he said, after a moment of companionable silence.

I arched my right brow, "Oh really now, I finally get to meet your ever elusive family?" On every other occasion that I had meet with Carlisle, his family had been gone, or at least, not with him. I knew what they looked like from their pictures that he had on his desk, but other than that, I had never seen them. From what he had told me, his wife, Esme, is an interior designer, mainly focusing on restoring old manor houses. His oldest son, Edward, is a doctor and would be transferring to the newly built hospital. Rosalie, his eldest daughter, was beautiful and a career high school student, although, from what I gathered, had a short stint in modeling. Rosalie's husband, Emmett was also a career high school student. Alice is a fashion designer and her husband Jasper is a Civil War veteran as well as a veteran of the vampire wars down south.

Carlisle nodded and wandered off to go talk to other people, effectively forcing myself to move from my place in front of the door. Most people avoided me, as was the habit, because even with all of this make-up, I still looked positively hideous. The few that did approach me were constantly looking about, trying not to look at my face. I sat at a table with a drink and waited. I was assuming that Carlisle would come and fetch me when his family arrived. Not a second after that thought, the double doors were thrown open and a gorgeous group of people strode in, laughing amongst themselves. Carlisle walked over to them and then motioned for me to come. These people were not done justice in the photos sitting on his desk. All of them were simply breathtaking, but my attention was mostly focused on whom I presumed to be Edward. His tousled bronze hair screamed promiscuous and his deep topaz eyes bespoke wonders. He noticed me looking and was quick to look away. _Bastard._ I almost hoped that he wouldn't be like everyone else, but who was I to think that highly of someone?

"Everyone, this is Isabella. She was the one who really got the hospital off of the ground", Carlisle introduced me. Edward looked back at me, almost quizzically.

"Please, call me Bella. Carlisle here is always so formal", I smiled back. I hoped that Esme knew about me because obviously, no one else did, resulting in five pairs of eyes trying to glare holes into my skull. They all thought that I was being to friendly with their creator. Esme, bless her, seemed to know about at least my relationship with Carlisle, because she smiled warmly at me.

I invited them to join me at my pitifully empty table, an offer which Carlisle and Esme immediately said yes to. Edward was still looking at me oddly, but I brushed him off. Jasper really looked like he was suffering, so I leaned into him as we were walking and slipped a blood tablet into his hand.

"Take this. It helps with the blood lust. It should last you until tomorrow, in which case, you'll need to go hunting." Alice looked rather shocked and I sent her a small smile. Rosalie and Emmett appeared to be oblivious, but I could tell that they were intrigued. Jasper simply popped the pill into his mouth and immediately relaxed. We all sat down around the table.

"Thanks, I really needed that. Where'd you get it? Wait, more importantly, how do you know?" Jasper asked.

"That really is a story for another time but I invented the pill to help people like you who wanted to work in hospitals", I said, being intentionally vague. "Carlisle was a willing test subject and the final product is so much better than the original prototype. Isn't it Carlisle?"

"Yes it is", he said with a chuckle. "The very first one tasted awful and if nothing more, increased the blood lust, but the ones these days taste like actual blood and represses the lust for longer than we ever thought possible at the beginning of this experiment." Edward looked rather in awe of me.

"Have you tried marketing these pills to the rest of the vampire population?" Rosalie asked.

"I have. In fact, the Volturi have quite the stash although, I don't really see the reason for them to own any. I'm not complaining though, they give me quite a nice sum of money whenever they order a shipment", I replied. Rosalie looked slightly astounded, but covered it up well. After a moment of silence, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Edward were thoroughly engrossed in a conversation.

"Did you see that car out there when we pulled in?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah, I saw it", Jasper said. "That poor valet didn't know what hit him. He was still standing there staring at it when we walked in."

Rosalie, looking a little dreamy, said "I wish I could see the engine, maybe modify it a little. That car would be so awesome." Edward just nodded along, not really paying attention. Emmett just sat there, pondering this car. I saw my perfect chance and piped in with a clever "What car was it?"

All four of them shook out of their stupors and looked at me. "A Lotus Elise", They all said at the same time. I blinked.

"Orange, black accents?" I asked. They all vigorously nodded. "Oh. Edward, can you tell if the valet is still there staring at it?" He shook his head. The valet must be out of range.

"Does anyone want to come with me to see if he's parked my car yet?" All four heads whipped around to look at me. A moment of silence ensued. Finally someone managed to splutter out a weak "Th-that's your car?" I nodded, smirking. All four of them immediately stood up.

"I will"

"No! I wanna!"

"Hey that's not fair! I saw it first!"

"One look at the engine, just one look.."

"Guys! Seriously! If you all want to see it that bad, we'll all go after dinner and I'll let you all test drive it." This immediately appeased them. They sat down. We talked a little before it became apparent that it was the time to dance. Everyone paired off and left Edward and I alone, sitting at the table. Slowly he rose and extended a hand towards me, jerking his head towards the dance floor. I put my hand in his own and was whisked off.

"How did you seem to know about my ability?" Edward asked as he bent me over.

"I am quite friendly with Carlisle. We have known each other for many years. It would only make sense that he tell me about his family", I replied, twirling. I was well aware that the others could hear our little conversation.

This sent Edward into deep thought and when the song ended, Jasper came to interrupt us, asking if I would dance with him. I expected as much. I was probably going to be passed among all of them as we were dancing.

"So you know about all of us?", Jasper asked, after a moment of thoughtful silence.

"Yes I do, and it would be very much appreciated if you sent me some self confidence. I don't like the stares that I am getting."

"Little Human, How would you like to see embarrassing pictures of the rest of the family?" Emmett asked when it was his turn. I figured I was in his good graces after the car thing.

"I would love to."

Emmett gave me back to Edward, and before I knew it, it was almost two o'clock and the event was winding down. When it became apparent that I was ready to leave, five sets of topaz eyes immediately focused on me. Alice wanted her share of the car to. I chuckled then sighed. I motioned them to follow me and we made our way out to the parking lot. The valet got my car and handed my keys.

"Who wants to go first?" I teased. Five hands immediately shot into the air.

"If there is so much as _one _scratch on my baby, you will regret it." I threatened. Finally, I handed the keys to Emmett, who looked like he was going top pee himself if he didn't get to go first. Emmett jumped in and sped off. Carlisle and Esme had, at this time, made their way out of the door and were watching with silent amusement. Eventually, everyone got a ride in my poor car, although we had to move locations to an empty lot because the valet service was not very happy. Emmett still looked like a kid in a candy store, long after he had his turn. When Edward noticed my yawn, he suggested that maybe it was time to go home and get some sleep. I was walking away after a rather exuberant goodbye, when Edward jogged over to me and leaned in.

"It was nice to meet you, Bella." He whispered into my ear, and then walked away.


	4. AN

A/N: Sorry for the super long hiatus…I got bored for a little while and then distracted with nerdy games.

I plan to start writing again soon and maybe I'll have another chapter (or story) up soon.

I was flipping through my email inbox earlier today and I realized that I couldn't even remember my own stories (I know, it's horrible). So, I went and read one and Man, was I a screwed up person…

Lol Anyways, I 3 all of you that alerted me ages ago and will still read this note.


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